Kitchen Transformation

Yup, you guessed it, I painted my kitchen cabinets. For the last two years my kitchen has been screaming PAINT ME PAINT ME. I ignored, mostly because I knew what a big task it would be, but with our basement renovations starting next week (taking away my only spot to do a project like this) I jumped on it.

Let me just say, I knew this would be an exhausting project, but I honestly wasn't prepared for how exhausting it would really be. For those of you who are flirting with the idea of painting your kitchen, I say go for it, but prepare yourself for a long hard week of painting.

Ok, so let's get to it. Here is my kitchen before the big transformation began.









Go ahead and say it. I know y'all are thinking it. Laura Hodgson you are crazy. Those are practically new cupboards! Why would you paint them???

Well, I just really like white kitchens. My kitchen doesnt get a lot of direct sunlight, so sometimes it felt like I was cooking in a cave. Moving on...

The first thing I had to do was decide what white I would use. You would think that white is white, but there are so many different tones of white. There a whites with a grayish tint, or green, yellow, or even pink. There's ivory white, antique white, and then an extreme white. I needed to pick something that would look good with my very white backsplash, and my touch of grey walls. After much deliberation, I finally decided to go with White Dove from Benjamin Moore.

I also decided that I didn't want a glossy finish on the cabinets. My backsplash is glossy, so if I did my whole kitchen glossy I would have needed to provide all visitors with sunglasses when they came into my kitchen. So I went for an acrylic satin finish, which isn't quite flat and has a tiny bit of sheen to it.

Next I took off all the doors. It's easier to paint them this way. I then sanded them with my new sander that my hubby got me. The guy I talked to at the paint store said that with the special primer I was using, I wouldnt need to sand, but I did it anyway. He also said that if there was any grease where I was painting, the paint wouldn't work. So clean those doors well.

I primed using a special paint for cabinets called Stix from Benjamin Moore. I used a small roller instead of a brush so it wouldn't leave paint lines. Then I used a special paint called Cabinet Coat in the White Dove. I needed to do four coats of this (front and back) before it looked good. Let me me tell you, half way through this project I was SO over it, and ready for it to be done.

On a side note, the primer I used was very stinky. If you use this and have little ones in the house, I suggest they have a playdate at someone else's house for a few hours.

Alright, are you ready for the after shots?









I left some of the doors off for open shelving, and miss Coral helped me pick out some wallpaper to put behind them.













So what do you think? Much better eh! Now I must say I am slightly nervous because I know painted kitchens can chip easily, and I have a rambunctious little girl who loves to help in the kitchen, but I have extra paint for the occasional touch up. It takes about 30 days for paint to cure, so we will try to keep Coral out of the kitchen for the next month of so.

And now to enjoy a coffee in my new, bright, beautiful kitchen.